


Meet me on the Battlefield

by ralf



Series: Close to Canon [53]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Clary Fray & Alec Lightwood Friendship, Episode: s03e20 City of Glass, Friendship, Gen, Russian Translation Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:40:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23966281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ralf/pseuds/ralf
Summary: Preparing for their confrontation with Clary and Jonathan, Alec remembers what they're fighting for.[Set during 3x20]
Relationships: Clary Fray & Alec Lightwood
Series: Close to Canon [53]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/936036
Comments: 10
Kudos: 71





	Meet me on the Battlefield

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Встретимся на поле боя](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26944933) by [Ksencha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ksencha/pseuds/Ksencha)



> Or find the russian translation on [ficbook](https://ficbook.net/readfic/9418223)!
> 
> Title (and the summary, kinda) is from the very lovely song “Battlefield” by Svrcina which I love a lot.
> 
> _We carry on through the storm  
>  Tired soldiers in this war  
> Remember what we're fighting for  
> Meet me on the battlefield_
> 
> Personally I favor [this wilder version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPj6BUyMG2U) of the song as opposed to the softer piano one; I think it matches the lyrics better. I also love Containment ;__; <3
> 
> Fic was inspired mostly by [this gif set](https://matthylynch.tumblr.com/post/184548741915).
> 
> Another random fact of ralf's life: This obviously still isn't the Magnus&Clary bonding fic I wanted to write. My muse keeps sabotaging me on that one and since I'm her slave my hands are tied. I hope to get there though, fingers crossed haha.

Their plan is simple. They need to separate Clary and Jonathan first, then they'll incapacitate him as quickly as possible to so they can focus all of their resources on Clary. Piercing her with Glorious to free her from the twisted influence of Jonathan's runes is their highest priority.

Protocol demands they take out Jonathan above all else but one shared look between them is enough to know what battle they'll pick if there is a choice to be made.

It's Izzy's idea to avoid fighting Jonathan outright and set him a trap instead. “He'll believe that Jace slips up,” she says. “We can use that to our adventage. He won't see it coming.”

Jace and Alec agree, and it's decided.

“Get your weapons. We'll meet out back in three minutes.”

Jace heads off towards the sleeping quarters where he keeps his blades, Izzy makes for the weapon's master's office to fetch Glorious and Alec marches to the elevated training platform where his arrow supply is stowed away in a private shelf.

By habit he reaches for his flash grenade arrows that will get the job done nicely when his gaze catches on a few arrows in a side compartment. He's never used those in battle before and has only tested them once, but the moment he sees them he knows they're it.

They're the only arrows in his arsenal he didn't finish himself. Clary did, just a few short weeks ago.

It was on a rare night he spent at the Institute. Unable to fall asleep in his bed, too used to Magnus's warm presence, he decided to go train in the faint hopes that it would exhaust him enough to find some rest afterwards. Light shone from the training room into the hall and inside he found Clary sitting on one of the benches off to the side, her stele in hand. She was drawing a rune on her palm, then pointed her hand outwards. A blazing ray of light shot from her palm, blinding Alec for a moment.

Her sunlight rune. The rune that failed her a while back during their summoning of Azazel, with devastating consequences.

The light dimmed slowly before it died completely. Clary looked down on her palm with a small frown before she redrew the rune, shining it at the wall again.

Alec wondered how long she'd been at it already.

He stepped into the room when the light faded. Clary saw him, tangling her hands in her lap like he'd caught her doing something forbidden.

Seeing her sitting there so forlornly, small and all alone in the middle of the night made his chest tighten. He wanted to comfort her but he really didn't know what to say.

Well. Except “Want to train?”

Clary shrugged. “Sure,” she said, an unhappy tilt to her shoulders.

Alec sighed. Sparring was about the only way he knew how to get rid of unwanted emotions besides talking, and even if Clary didn't seem too excited at the prospect it was the best he had to offer. He walked to one of the weapon racks when an unexpected idea hit. Instead of picking a blade he opened a drawer and grabbed a few blank arrows before heading to Clary's bench and sitting next to her.

“Are we fighting with arrows?” she asked dubiously.

Alec snorted. Even though fighting with arrows was a handy skill to have that had proven useful more than once already it made little sense for Clary to train it since she never carried arrows. “No. But I thought.. you know some runes are applicable to weapons, right? I thought we could try putting the sunlight rune on arrows.”

He watched her process his words, then her frown diminished and she met his eyes, something like hope brightening her face. He was glad she understood his meaning. She didn't need to carry all the responsibility on her own. There could be a contingency plan, backup. She was not alone.

She grabbed one of the arrows from him and lost no time carving the rune into the arrowhead. The rune held which was a good sign, darkening once Clary was done.

“How do we know if it worked?” she asked.

In lieu of an answer Alec took the arrow from her, aimed, and threw it at one of the practice targets across the room. The second the arrow hit it released a billowing cloud of blinding light with a whoosh.

The brightness melted away and they stared at each other for a moment, then Clary smiled. “Nice.”

Alec couldn't help but agree. He shoved the remaining arrows into her lap and Clary complied with his unspoken request with a laugh.

When she reached the last arrow she paused. Holding her stele and the arrow out to him she said, “You should try.”

Alec frowned. “You know no one besides you can draw your runes.”

Izzy had run tests on that. Extensively. (Unkinder minds might have used the word 'obsessively'.)

“Who knows?” Clary argued. “You already have a connection to your arrows, right? Maybe that'll do the trick.”

Alec doubted this but accepted the stele. As soon as he positioned it against the tip of the arrow and sharpened his intension of drawing Clary's sunlight rune there was a resistance that hindered any movement. He pushed against it half-heartedly but it didn't budge. No surprise there.

He lowered the stele with a shrug. “See? Still impossible.”

Clary hummed. “And here I thought impossible just means try again.”

Alec lifted his head in time to catch Clary's wide grin bursting into a laugh. She tried to hide it behind a hand with little success, laughing louder when Alec raised his eyebrows at her. “You should see your _face_ ,” she giggled.

“You, Fray, are in serious need of an ass-kicking,” he assessed in a deadpan voice.

Clary waved her hands placatingly. “I'm really not! I'm good.”

“On the mat, now.”

“Nooo,” Clary whined when he got up and motioned for her to follow.

He grabbed her hand and tugged. “Up. That's an order.”

Clary didn't resist, still smiling when he let her choose their weapons, and she didn't lose her cheeky grin no matter how many times he knocked her on her butt.

Alec blinks back to himself, away from the soft memory and to the harsh present.

This is what's at stake. His grip around the arrows tightens. Jonathan crossed the wrong family.

He'll stop at nothing to get Clary back, safe and sound.

**Author's Note:**

> To verify that I'm not making shit up please check out [this amazing post](https://lutavero.tumblr.com/post/188346863145/clary-her-runes) and show it some love while you're at it ;D


End file.
